Energy & Climate

By Aparna Sundaram. Faculty advisors: Professor Tom Gladwin, Chair Professor Gautam Kaul

Abstract: Energy efficiency undertakings create cost savings and public benefits. These cost savings provide owners/managers with opportunities to earn a return on their investments. Benefits include lower electricity congestion, lower emissions, and potentially lower prices. However, there are many cases in which viable projects are known but not pursued. This research seeks to asses the role of capital markets in driving investment into non-residential building energy efficiency. Research Questions:  What are the demand-side and supply-side measures that could save the most energy at the least cost?  What are the impediments to investment in these measures?  What are potential solutions, particularly in terms of financial instruments, products, and structures? Methodology:  Secondary research  In-depth interviews  Conferences / trade shows Findings: Investment in non-residential building energy efficiency is taking place but not to the extent possible. When projects do attract customer attention, access to capital is a significant issue, not least because of the difficulty in collateralizing EE equipment, and most ESCOs’ lack of credit ratings. Utilities are looking to establish authoritative and lucrative positions, driven by new regulation. Capital markets financiers can seize this opportunity to leverage utilities and government partners to devise financing structures that can reallocate risk and return and drive investment into non-residential building energy efficiency.

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By Eric Bruski, Leonore Hijazi, Lauren Hoffman, Laurel Martin, Geoff Michael, Imogen Taylor

Abstract: Boyne Mountain Resort’s interest in adopting a comprehensive sustainability plan was driven by its history of environmental conservation, the growing risks to the resort industry from climate change and ecological degradation, increasing government regulations, and rising consumer interest in sustainability. However, the management team lacked the resources and expertise to devise such a plan. This project provided a site‐specific environmental design and management plan for this fourseason resort in Boyne Falls, Michigan. The overall goal was to supply the client with a set of detailed, practical recommendations that could be implemented immediately to drastically improve its environmental impact. We organized our work along four objectives: reduce energy, water, and waste; minimize ecosystem impacts through sustainable design and product sourcing; enhance consumer and employee education; and demonstrate the financial impact of more sustainable operations. The report details the industry’s best practices and Boyne’s current state practices along 128 indicators; assesses the gap between current and best practices to identify the areas for the highest potential improvement; then elaborates on recommendations for ten specific components. These components include seven renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, a composting program, a recycling program, educational gardens, Audubon sanctuary certification for the golf courses, sustainable purchasing guidelines, a green marketing plan, employee reward system, and mechanisms for financing sustainability projects. Implementation of this plan will allow Boyne Mountain to establish itself as a leader in environmental sustainability among Midwestern resorts.

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By Priyanka Bandyopadhyay ’08, Anthony Gross ’08, Michael Hartley ’08, Jeffrey LeBrun ’08, Ali Moazed ’08

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By Caroline Conway ’08

Abstract: Steelcase, Inc., a U.S. based and globally operating furniture company, has a long history of environmental improvement throughout its processes and products. Because its products are the core source of these impacts, integrating environmental metrics into the product development process has become a critical effort at the company.

Evaluating the environmental impacts of products can be challenging. Products are typically evaluated through a life cycle analysis (LCA) after design is complete. While this analysis is critical for public reporting and informing future products, a product cannot be revisited to improve performance once it is ready for production. Instead, evaluation of impacts needs to be an integral part of the product development process when materials, processes, and design options can be selected based in part on their expected environmental performance.

This research looked at the feasibility of using a data‐driven environmental analysis tool, with the working title of Wizard for Environmental Life Cycle Evaluation (WELE), to reduce the time required for environmental decision making during product development and to minimize the uncertainty of evaluation results when a product design is incomplete. Based on discussions with Steelcase representatives, a beta version of the tool was created within an existing LCA software package and tested with Steelcase product developers to determine its usability. Additional research explored the integration of Steelcase‐specific evaluation methods and product data needed to increase the tool’s accuracy in reporting environmental impacts.

Several iterations of the tool were developed and tested with Steelcase representatives in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Strasbourg, France as well as IDEO, an affiliated product design consulting firm. Separate product tests were also conducted using completed LCAs for existing Steelcase products. These tests included evaluation of the impacts on full product performance when generic versus company‐specific materials and processes were used. They also included modeling of the products in increasing detail to determine potential levels of reporting accuracy at each stage of product development.

This research indicated that there is value in using a data‐driven approach to environmental analysis in early stage product development, but there are also several challenges. The product tests demonstrated that representative estimates of environmental impacts can be achieved in the early stages of product development, even when multiple design decisions remain to be made. Across the tests, environmental impacts represented at each stage of product development were compared with the products’ final LCA results. In the concept phase of development, 18 (or 32% with a modified product) – 63% of final impacts were represented. This moved up to 50 – 80% of impacts represented in the design phase, 62 – 92% represented in the engineering phase, and 95 – 99% represented in the final production phase. While these results were promising, several challenges also emerged regarding the tool’s usability as well as long term data collection and management. Therefore, while the data‐driven approach has many benefits, improvements to the non‐expert usability of LCA platforms and development of data collection efforts will be essential to optimize such an approach.

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By Mary E. Lemmer. Faculty Advisor: Andrew J. Hoffman

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By Jessica Lin ’07

Abstract: The food and beverage sector of the economy has faced increasing pressure from consumers to provide transparency on the sources and operations related to their products. Responsible and ethical procurement is especially challenging for food and beverage, because agricultural commodities typically rely on low-cost labor inputs and environmentally-damaging technology and practices in order to produce high volumes. These negative environmental and social impacts threaten the reputation of food and beverage firms in the short-term, and the certainty of food supply capacity in the longterm. Therefore, supply chain management in food and beverage firms is shifting from an operational activity to a strategic activity. This research identified the key categories of information that significantly determine the feasibility, opportunity, and/or perhaps urgency of working toward a sustainable supply chain in agriculture. A concise, yet suitably comprehensive analytical tool for supply chain professionals and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practitioners in the food and beverage sector was developed. The Sustainable Agriculture Supply Chain Assessment (SASCA) is a simple screening tool for large food and beverage companies to evaluate, improve, or benchmark the sustainability of their agricultural supply chains. Key findings of this research are: Prevailing supply chain incentives and norms often contradict the behaviors necessary to improve environmental and social performance. Creating a sustainable supply chain requires different models and working relationships. Although agriculture is a mature sector, there remain significant inefficiencies in on-farm resource management that present opportunities for environmental improvements through use of better management practices (BMPs). The WTO and other trade agreements are significant determinants of supply chain leverage in global agriculture.

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By Nuyi (Flora) Tao ’03 and Ed Chao ’06

The Yunnan Whitewaters Hydropower Development Project has been registered under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. This carbon emission reduction endeavor is a 78 megawatt, three cascade stage, run-of-river hydropower venture in rural Yunnan Province of southern China. When completed in December 2007, the project is expected to displace ~274,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

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By Michael Edison’08, Rachel Permut ’08, Kathleen Elliott ’08 ( with Sarah Popp, Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts, and Andrew Winkelman)

The Michigan at a Climate Crossroads: Strategies for Guiding the State in a Carbon- Constrained World Project (MCCP) team developed state-level greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction policies for the State of Michigan to consider as it faces an emerging carbon-constrained world. The MCCP builds upon the results of the Michigan Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 and 2002, conducted by the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan. Approximately 180 regional stakeholders representing the industrial, commercial, higher education, government, and non-profit sectors provided the MCCP team with input and feedback throughout the duration of the project. The MCCP team used the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) State Inventory Tool, the Energy 2020 model, and the Regional Economic Modeling, Inc. (REMI) Policy Insight Tool to calculate potential GHG emission reductions and economic impacts of state-level policies. The MCCP demonstrated that enacting policies to reduce GHG emissions can positively affect the state’s economy and reduce GHG emissions. Implementing a set of the statelevel GHG emission reduction policies has the potential to reduce Michigan GHG emissions by 84 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE) by 2025, while increasing both gross state product (GSP) by an average of $380 million per year and state employment by roughly 3,400 full-time jobs. The final policy analysis will be provided to members of the Michigan State Legislature and the Office of the Governor.

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By Christina Turney ’07 and Sarah Winkeller ’07

This paper presents a statistical model that quantifies the influence of various stakeholders on chemical manufacturing companies’ environmental performance. We based the model on a framework outlined by Andrew Hoffman in Competitive Environmental Strategy: A Guide to the Changing Business Landscape.1 The model uses actors from the following four categories: Social Drivers, Resource Drivers, Market Drivers and Coercive (Regulatory) Drivers as independent variables to explain the variation in Toxic Release Inventory Emissions (TRI) across the 50 states in the years 1995 through 2004.

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